The use of automatic teller machines (ATMs) for personal banking has proliferated in the past decade. Access to funds and account information from any bank or financial institution networked into a particular ATM system is readily available, and ATM locations continue to increase in number. While the electronic management of one's own personal accounts has continued to become more convenient, using these systems to transfer money to another recipient without providing total access to the funds that may be available in the account accessed has lacked in ATM systems.
Instead, the process of wiring money, or sending money through the mail by money order or other commercial paper, remains the primary means for providing the recipient measured or limited access to funds that may be otherwise electronically available. Credit cards, with a predetermined credit limit, may be obtained for a recipient by co-signing or other secured means, but these arrangements may prove difficult to manage so as to limit the amount available for withdrawal or other use by the recipient at a pre-determined level under the credit limit (which may be substantial). In addition, credit cards may not be available to those without an established credit history, without a cosigner or surety, or those with a spotted credit history, such as those emerging from bankruptcy or other financial difficulty.
By way of example, a parent wishing to provide funds for their college student son or daughter living away from home may not want to allow unlimited access to funds in an account or provide a line of credit. Access to an unlimited or high credit line, such as through a credit card, may provide an invitation for abuse, especially for those not accustomed to money management. Limiting these credit lines and available funds to regulate debt incurred necessarily involves the parent delegating some supervising authority to the credit card company, bank or financial institution charged with limiting withdrawals or access.
By way of further example, one wishing to quickly send money to a relative or friend faces similar problems as well as other challenges. Sending checks, money orders or other commercial paper takes time and may incur a hold period, exorbitant cashing and/or transfer costs or require an existing account owned by the recipient in order to redeem. Wiring the money is also expensive and often requires the recipient to visit a specific branch location, which sacrifices the convenience of a withdrawal from a more proximate available ATM.
Difficulties such as these demonstrate that a method and/or system of providing and retrieving money transfers between a customer and recipient through an automated networked method is desirable.